HAMILTON, Bermuda, May 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Paratus Energy Services Ltd. ("Paratus" or the "Company") today announced a trading update for the first quarter 2024 and updates on Paratus, its subsidiaries and associated companies ("Paratus Group" or the "Group"). Company overview Paratus Energy Services Ltd. is the holding company of a group of leading energy services companies. The Group is primarily comprised of its wholly-owned subsidiary Fontis Energy, a 50/50 JV interest in Seabras (equity accounted), and a 24% ownership interest in Archer Ltd. (equity accounted). 1. Key Highlights Delivered adjusted EBITDA of $53 million on $109 million of gross revenue Exited the quarter with a cash balance of $126 million and $638 million in net debt Secured average contractual rates of $118 thousand/day at an average utilization of 99.6% and $205 thousand/day at an average utilization of 98.7% for Fontis and Seabras, respectively Bolstered Seabras' backlog by $1.8 billion Appointment of Group CFO Share split effected to simplify capital structure Rebranding of SeaMex 1.1  Paratus Group In the first quarter 2024, the Group, including the Company's share in Seabras JV, generated $109 million in gross revenue and $53 million in adjusted EBITDA, compared to $97 million and $43 million in the first quarter 2023, respectively. The full-year 2023 adjusted EBITDA stood at $227 million on the back of gross revenues totaling $430 million. The Group closed the quarter with a cash balance of $126 million and $638 million in net debt, compared to $134 million and $632 million at year-end 2023, respectively. Compared to first quarter 2023, the cash balance has increased by $25 million whilst the net debt was reduced by $60 million (Q1 2023: Cash of $101 million and net debt of $698 million), largely driven by the retirement of senior secured notes at Fontis Energy. 1.2  Fontis Energy (previously SeaMex) During the first quarter 2024, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary Fontis Holdings Ltd. ("Fontis Energy") and its subsidiaries generated $56 million in gross revenue and $27 million in EBITDA. Compared to the first quarter 2023, gross revenue and EBITDA increased by 30% and 81%, respectively, largely driven by downtime on the Courageous and Defender rigs experienced in the first quarter 2023. In 2023, Fontis Energy generated $205 million in gross revenue and $105 million in EBITDA. In the first quarter 2024, Fontis Energy earned an average contractual rate of $118 thousand per day at an average utilization of 99.6% and ended the quarter with $419 million in contract backlog. As of March 31, 2024, the accounts receivables balance was $222 million, up from $174 million at year-end 2023. Due to normal administrative requirements associated with its name change (as further described in Section 2.1), Fontis Energy was unable to submit new billings to its key customer for a period of six months, leading to a build in accounts receivable. Fontis Energy believes this is a non-recurring event and a normalization of collections will occur as the name change has now been completed. Beginning in March 2024, payments from its key customer resumed ahead of anticipated timing. Fontis Energy collected $16 million and $14 million in March and April 2024, respectively. "Since the separation from Seadrill, the new management team has had a clear focus, solely dedicated to the Fontis business, and this has allowed us to build a stronger relationship with our key customer," said Raphael Siri, CEO of Fontis Energy. "Such improved cooperation was visible with the timely completion of the name change and follow-up payments received in a shorter time than anticipated. We will continue to work together to bring our accounts receivable to a more routine level." 1.3  Joint Venture in Seabras (figures reflect 100%) Seabras UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Paratus, holds a 50% equity interest in Seabras Sapura Holding GmbH, its associated company, Seabras Sapura Participaҫões S.A and their subsidiaries (collectively with Seabras UK Limited, "Seabras" or "JV"). During the first quarter 2024, Seabras generated $107 million in revenue (Q1 2023: $108 million) and $55 million in EBITDA (Q1 2023: $61 million). The reduction in EBITDA compared to the first quarter 2023 was largely due to a slight increase in off-hire days and modest cost increases. In the first quarter 2024, Seabras earned an average contractual rate of $205 thousand per day at an average utilization of 98.7% and ended the quarter with $2.1 billion in contract backlog, pro forma for the contract awards announced on May 10, 2024. As previously announced, pursuant to an agreed plan amongst the JV shareholders, Seabras has distributed and will continue to distribute all excess cash to its JV shareholders since April 2023. During the first quarter 2024, Paratus received $24 million from Seabras. 2. Significant Subsequent Events and Other Updates 2.1  Fontis Energy Name Change Since commencing its separation from Seadrill in mid-2023, the entity formerly known as SeaMex Holdings, LLC ("SeaMex") has undergone a name change to Fontis Energy. This effort has provided for complete separation from Seadrill and enhanced the Fontis Energy brand as a leading standalone player in the offshore drilling space. The name change highlights Paratus' successful efforts to complete its separation from its former parent company Seadrill. "Our new Fontis Energy vision, values and logo – all rotating around integrity, dependability and performance – form the basis of our improved business model and deliverables that will fuel our growth," said Raphael Siri, CEO of Fontis Energy.  Going forward, reference to SeaMex will be discontinued and will be superseded with Fontis Energy. 2.2  Seabras secures additional backlog of $1.8bn for its full fleet with new contracts from Petrobras On May 10, 2024, Paratus announced that certain entities of Seabras had successfully been awarded contracts for its full fleet of six multi-purpose pipe-laying support vessels ("PLSV") as part of a competitive Petrobras tender process. This achievement bolstered Seabras' backlog by approximately $1.8 billion. Following the contract award, Seabras' backlog stands at $2.1 billion. The contracts, each with a three-year term, will commence on different mobilization dates between May 2024 and June 2025 according to the current contract schedule for each of the PLSVs, with the longest dated contract going through 2028, improving secured backlog visibility up to another four years. The contract awards represent a meaningful improvement to dayrates, reflecting the positive industry momentum and the growing demand for PLSVs in Brazil. This achievement is a testament to Seabras' unwavering commitment to operational excellence, safety, and customer satisfaction. Since commencing operations in 2014, the vessels have maintained an average technical utilization of approximately 98%. 2.3  Governance Update On May 21, 2024, Paratus, with the approval of its shareholders, has undertaken and completed an administrative reorganisation of its existing share capital and governance structure.  The effect of the reorganisation is that the capital structure of the Company has been simplified, to reduce the number of share classes to a single class of Class A Common Shares of US $0.00002 each, via the following steps: with effect from March 15, 2024, the Class C Common shares of US $0.01 each in the Company were redesignated to Class A Common Shares of US $0.01 each in the Company; and with effect from May 21, 2024, each of the Class A Common Shares of US$0.01 each in the Company (including those existing following the above step), were sub-divided into 500 A Common Shares of US$0.00002 each. In conjunction with these steps, the governance framework for the Company has been adjusted such that, with effect from May 21, 2024: the shareholders' agreement relating to the Company dated January 20, 2022 has been terminated and will not be replaced; and the Company has adopted a new set of bye-laws (in substitution for the then existing bye-laws) which will form the basis for the governance of the Company going forward. Following the administrative reorganisation, Paratus had total Class A Common Shares of 154,015,990. 2.3 Appointment of Group CFO The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Baton Haxhimehmedi as the Group Chief Financial Officer ("GCFO") of Paratus Management Norway AS with effect from June 1, 2024. Mr. Haxhimehmedi most recently held positions as Deputy CFO and Group Head of Finance of DNO ASA, an oil and gas company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, and previous senior audit positions in various 'Big 4" accounting firms, mainly working with international upstream oil and gas clients. "We are pleased to welcome Baton Haxhimehmedi as our Group Chief Financial Officer," said Mei Mei Chow, Chairperson of the Paratus board. "With the addition of Baton's extensive experience in a listed oil oil and gas company with global operations, coupled with his strong track record in senior management ...